DISUM 26-03-2018

Science may still be divided over whether gender differences are rooted in biology or culture, but many of Sweden’s government-funded preschools are doing what they can to deconstruct them. State curriculum urges teachers and principals to embrace their role as social engineers, requiring them to “counteract traditional gender roles and gender patterns.”

It is normal, in many Swedish preschools, for teachers to avoid referring to their students’ gender — instead of “boys and girls,” they say “friends,” or call children by name.[…]

Exactly how this teaching method affects children is still unclear.

One of the few peer-reviewed efforts to examine the method’s effects, published last year in the Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, concluded that some behaviors do go away when students attend what the study called “gender-neutral” preschools.

For instance, the children at these schools do not show a strong preference for playmates of the same gender, and are less likely to make assumptions based on stereotypes. Yet, the scientists found no difference at all in the children’s tendency to notice gender, suggesting that may be under a genetic influence.

2. It’s just like when you can’t find your keys, well, except for all the drugs and crystal meth.

Every autumn on the mountainous Karakoram Highway, part of the ancient Silk Road, groups of Pakistani merchants living in China’s far west would wave goodbye to their Chinese wives and cross the border to spend winter in their home country.

As the snow piled high, the men would stay in touch with their families by phone, longing for the spring thaw that would allow them to be reunited in Xinjiang. But last year many of their calls suddenly went unanswered.

Their families, they learned, had disappeared into a growing network of shadowy “re-education centres” that have swept up the region’s Uighur Muslim minority over fears of Islamic militancy crossing the border from Pakistan.

[…]

Iqbal and the other Pakistani men believe their wives — and even business associates — have been targeted because they received calls and messages from Pakistan. “Any communication from Pakistan is considered a threat,” said Qurban, a businessman who has worked in Kashgar for over 30 years. “One of my employees, a Uighur, was picked up two years back just because he was in touch with me when I went to Pakistan.”

[…]

An AFP review of state media reports and government documents verified the existence of at least 30 such centers and almost 4,000 cases of people being sent to them.